Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World

 Wii
Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World Image
Metascore
68

Mixed or average reviews - based on 46 Critics What's this?

User Score
7.3

Mixed or average reviews- based on 100 Ratings

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  • Summary: Set two years after the events of the award-winning Tales of Symphonia for the Nintendo GameCube, Dawn of the New World follows the journey of two new young heroes, Emil Castagnier and Marta Lualdi, as they seek to uncover the mystery of why their world has fallen into ruin. In their quest,Set two years after the events of the award-winning Tales of Symphonia for the Nintendo GameCube, Dawn of the New World follows the journey of two new young heroes, Emil Castagnier and Marta Lualdi, as they seek to uncover the mystery of why their world has fallen into ruin. In their quest, their paths will cross with the original cast of Tales of Symphonia including Lloyd and Colette, as well as a summon spirit known as Ratatosk who claims to be the lord of all monsters. Advancing the combination of story, characters and real-time battles of Tales of Symphonia, Dawn of the New World introduces a new monster recruitment feature in which players can capture more than 200 unique enemies and train them to actively participate in battle. Players can then feed these monsters to make them more effective, and even evolve them into several new fearsome forms. The game also features an updated real-time battle system that lets players move freely in all directions around the battlefield, execute powerful unison attacks and take advantage of a new elemental alignment system for even more strategic depth. Dawn of the New World gives players complete control over a full roster of Tales of Symphonia characters and ally monsters, letting them customize their adventure party into hundreds of unique combinations. [Namco Bandai Games]… Expand
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  • Developer: Bandai Namco Games
  • Genre(s): Role-Playing, Console-style RPG, Console-style RPG, Japanese-Style
  • # of players: No Online Multiplayer
  • Cheats: On GameFAQs
  • Rating: T
  • More Details and Credits »

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 16 out of 46
  2. Mixed: 27 out of 46
  3. Negative: 3 out of 46
  1. Zentendo
    90
    If a player can look past the occasionally spotty visuals, the unusually long load times, and a complicated narrative, they can find an excellent RPG experience for the Wii.
  2. Vandal
    83
    Maybe it is not as good as the first one, specially by some unpolished aspects, but it's also true that has improved a lot in certain areas.
  3. Games Master UK
    78
    A decent Wii-friendly RPG, let down by too many concessions to casual gamers. [Feb 2009, p.80]
    All this publication's reviews
  4. XGN
    70
    Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World is a pretty good RPG for the Wii. It takes many elements from the previous Symphonia game, but there are some flaws. It also feels like this game isn't a direct sequel to the previous game. However if you are a real ToS-fan, you can add one point to the score.
  5. GameSpot
    65
    Dawn of the New World is a sequel that fails to establish itself as anything more than fan fare.
  6. Kombo
    60
    Tales of Symphonia 2: Dawn of the New World has a great battle system, voice-acting, and nice new elements like the monster gathering. Unfortunately, the linear story, dull characters, lack of exploration and mediocre graphics hold back the experience.
  7. Metro GameCentral
    40
    Even committed fans are likely to be disappointed by this lazy and largely unnecessary rehash.

See all 46 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 21
  2. Mixed: 9 out of 21
  3. Negative: 5 out of 21
  1. maverickuw
    Mar 17, 2011
    10
    While I'm a little disappointed that they took away the free-roaming world that's present from the first game, (and in other games such asWhile I'm a little disappointed that they took away the free-roaming world that's present from the first game, (and in other games such as Tales of Vesperia), I'm overall rather impressed. They did a good job of fan service for those who played the first game in the series--hopefully this will inspire them to make future sequels to take us back to some pretty good prior stories.… Expand
  2. GoodDay
    May 27, 2009
    10
    Screw the critics, ToS:DotNW is the best RPG for the Wii out there. If you enjoy RPGs and have played the first Tales of Symphonia then by no Screw the critics, ToS:DotNW is the best RPG for the Wii out there. If you enjoy RPGs and have played the first Tales of Symphonia then by no means should you let this game slip away. You may feel frustrated at times due to some "repetitive" scenes but overall, you will get a great game. Good ol´ Tales fighting style with NEW SKILLS (sry demon fang, oh wait it is there too). Pretty simple: if you have played the first one, get it. If you didnt, get the first one and then play this. Of course, given that you like RPGs.… Expand
  4. MisterNoodles
    May 17, 2013
    10
    This game stands out as one of my personal favorites. For not only having a great compelling storyline, but for having great game play asThis game stands out as one of my personal favorites. For not only having a great compelling storyline, but for having great game play as well. Sadly there was no free roaming and the graphics were dated, but better than some games of that time "cough" Sonic 06 "cough". I have never played the original Tales of Symphonia and if what people say is true. Tales of Symphonia will blow my mind since this game was nearly perfect and is a must have.… Expand
  5. FozzyU
    Jun 2, 2009
    6
    The sequel to the Gamecube game, this game takes a drastic change in it's gameplay. Played more like an interactive anime cartoon than a The sequel to the Gamecube game, this game takes a drastic change in it's gameplay. Played more like an interactive anime cartoon than a video game, you'll be spending most of your time watching in-game cut-screens than exploring dungeons and developing your character. The combat is also worse than it's predecessor. While trying to remain similar to the previous game, DotnW's combat is slow and frustrating. If for no other reason than the fact that you cannot switch your target without having to resort to "tricks" by switching characters until your previous character's AI switches it's target, and switch back. This becomes frustratingly obvious on "boss" fights where you need to attack the healer to prevent them from casting a heal, but your character is "locked" into the other guys. However, the amount of voice acting and a continued deep story (sorry, you'll have to play the other game to really understand what's going on) makes this game enjoy able enough to slog your way through.… Expand
  6. Theday
    Jun 1, 2011
    6
    Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World is very much a fan service game. It was made with fans of the GameCube/Playstation 2 game in mind.Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World is very much a fan service game. It was made with fans of the GameCube/Playstation 2 game in mind. The game only gives you two new playable characters and a handful of new characters in the world while you revisit old locations with new paint jobs. Most of the music is carried over as well. That being said, the game does a good job at creating a new conflict that drags everyone into it. The Norse background greatly influences the game's story. The game has a very slow start as you play as Emil, a whiny annoying child who suddenly grows a pair while he's in battle and in his "Ratatosk Mode", you almost wish that this mode continues for the rest of the game. But if you played the original and can suffer a bit of annoying voice acting then you'll be able to enjoy the game.… Expand
  7. Cyph3rPunk
    Jan 9, 2011
    6
    I didn't play the first ToS, but this game has a decent story line and an interesting combat system. It was enjoyable to play, but the gameI didn't play the first ToS, but this game has a decent story line and an interesting combat system. It was enjoyable to play, but the game feels very slow paced. Another major problem is the inability to skip cut scenes. It makes dying that much more frustrating. Combine that with the game being ordered like Save Point - MASSIVE CUTSCENE - Hard battle, it makes it that much worse.

    It kept me interested through the game, but there were times where I had to take breaks from it so I wouldn't rage having to watch a 5+ minute segment of cut scenes again.

    All in all, the game felt like I was playing Pokemon mashed up with Star Ocean.

    Also, about what FozzyU said - he obviously never read the battle tutorials that the game forces you to go through in the first few battles. You push (-) in order to switch targets. Or you could just switch to Manual. Either way.    … Expand
  8. lavayuki
    Feb 27, 2016
    1
    After playing every other Tales game up to Xillia 2, this is by far the worst, especially after playing Symphonia. I could barely stand MartaAfter playing every other Tales game up to Xillia 2, this is by far the worst, especially after playing Symphonia. I could barely stand Marta and her obsessive lovey-dovey scenes, with most of the skits being about how much she loves Emil to the point of mania. Other than that, only 2 main party members with every other character being only temporary and unable to level up/ change equipment and the whole monster capture thing did not appeal to me as a whole. The worst part was the characters though, it's the only Tales where I found the dialogue and skits to be too cringy to listen to that I couldn't bring myself to do a New game plus.… Expand

See all 21 User Reviews

Awards & Rankings

74
#74 Best Wii Game of 2008
20
#20 Most Discussed Wii Game of 2008